Retail Media
Microsoft PromoteIQ retail media: shutdown status and where customers went
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Microsoft PromoteIQ was a retail media platform that Microsoft bought in 2019 and wound down from 2024. Digiday reported on 7 October 2024 that Microsoft was quietly closing it and steering clients to Criteo, its new preferred onsite partner (Digiday, 7 October 2024). Microsoft never announced a public end date. The promoteiq.com domain no longer resolves.
Contents
At a glance
Company
PromoteIQ, a division of Microsoft Advertising after the 2019 acquisition (PPC Land, August 2019)
Headquarters
n/d for PromoteIQ; parent company Microsoft Corporation
Founded
n/d; acquired by Microsoft in August 2019 for an undisclosed amount (Digiday, 7 October 2024)
Ownership
Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT)
Product category
Retail media platform (onsite, offsite and in-store vendor marketing)
What it does
Status: wound down. Sunset notices to retailers began in summer 2024; migration was expected to take up to a year (Digiday, same source)
Deployment model
Was a managed platform for retailers; no longer offered
Pricing model
n/d; a former executive described the ad server business as "very low margins" (Digiday)
Key integrations
Microsoft Advertising demand for onsite inventory and PromoteIQ Offsite, both announced January 2023 (PPC Land, 16 January 2023)
Publicly named customers
Kroger and The Home Depot before the acquisition; Hudson's Bay and Sephora later (per its former chief revenue officer, Digiday)
Standards supported
n/a
Last verified
9 November 2026: promoteiq.com returned no DNS answer
| Field | Microsoft PromoteIQ |
|---|---|
Company | PromoteIQ, a division of Microsoft Advertising after the 2019 acquisition (PPC Land, August 2019) |
Headquarters | n/d for PromoteIQ; parent company Microsoft Corporation |
Founded | n/d; acquired by Microsoft in August 2019 for an undisclosed amount (Digiday, 7 October 2024) |
Ownership | Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) |
Product category | Retail media platform (onsite, offsite and in-store vendor marketing) |
What it does | Status: wound down. Sunset notices to retailers began in summer 2024; migration was expected to take up to a year (Digiday, same source) |
Deployment model | Was a managed platform for retailers; no longer offered |
Pricing model | n/d; a former executive described the ad server business as "very low margins" (Digiday) |
Key integrations | Microsoft Advertising demand for onsite inventory and PromoteIQ Offsite, both announced January 2023 (PPC Land, 16 January 2023) |
Publicly named customers | Kroger and The Home Depot before the acquisition; Hudson's Bay and Sephora later (per its former chief revenue officer, Digiday) |
Standards supported | n/a |
Last verified | 9 November 2026: promoteiq.com returned no DNS answer |
What it does: status in November 2026
PromoteIQ no longer operates as a product. The evidence is cumulative rather than a single announcement. In July 2024 Microsoft said it intended to work with Criteo as its "preferred onsite media partner" (Criteo, 11 July 2024). In October 2024 Digiday's sources said Microsoft had begun telling retail media publishers over the summer that it was sunsetting the service. By 9 November 2026 the promoteiq.com domain did not resolve at all.
Microsoft has not commented on the specifics. Asked by Retail Brew, it declined to discuss PromoteIQ. It said Microsoft Advertising gives clients access to retail media inventory through "multiple avenues", including Criteo and its curation product, Curate (Retail Brew, 15 October 2024).
7 of 7 rows
August 2019 | Microsoft acquires PromoteIQ; it becomes a division of Microsoft Advertising | |
January 2023 | PromoteIQ Offsite launches; Microsoft Advertising demand flows to PromoteIQ onsite inventory | |
July 2023 | Kroger says it will bring its retail media ad tech in-house | |
11 July 2024 | Criteo and Microsoft Advertising announce a collaboration; Criteo becomes preferred onsite partner | |
7 October 2024 | Digiday reports the quiet shutdown and a migration of up to a year | |
9 January 2025 | Microsoft launches Curate for Commerce to help retailers sell first-party data offsite | |
9 November 2026 | promoteiq.com does not resolve | Our DNS check |
August 2019
- Event
Microsoft acquires PromoteIQ; it becomes a division of Microsoft Advertising
- Source
January 2023
- Event
PromoteIQ Offsite launches; Microsoft Advertising demand flows to PromoteIQ onsite inventory
- Source
July 2023
- Event
Kroger says it will bring its retail media ad tech in-house
- Source
11 July 2024
- Event
Criteo and Microsoft Advertising announce a collaboration; Criteo becomes preferred onsite partner
- Source
7 October 2024
- Event
Digiday reports the quiet shutdown and a migration of up to a year
- Source
9 January 2025
- Event
Microsoft launches Curate for Commerce to help retailers sell first-party data offsite
9 November 2026
- Event
promoteiq.com does not resolve
- Source
Our DNS check
Table by AdSovereign, CC BY 4.0.
How it works: the PromoteIQ model before the wind-down
PromoteIQ let retailers sell onsite ad space to the brands whose products they stocked. Microsoft described it at the acquisition as a pioneer of the private marketplace approach to "digital vendor marketing" (PPC Land, August 2019). It later added offsite media, so retailers' first-party audiences could be used on other sites and social channels.
The strategic idea, according to its former chief revenue officer Harsh Jiandani, was that ad tech would help Microsoft win retailers' cloud business (Digiday). The problem was margin. Jiandani said the ad server business ran on "very low margins" and that reaching $1 billion in revenue looked far off. When Kroger moved its ad tech in-house in 2023, PromoteIQ lost one of its largest clients.
Pricing
No PromoteIQ price list was ever found in public sources. The platform is no longer sold, so pricing is not relevant to new buyers. Retailers comparing what replaced it should look at how each successor charges: Criteo's 10-K, for example, describes a negotiated SSP fee for retailers and a DSP fee for brands (Criteo 10-K, FY2025).
Where PromoteIQ customers went
Microsoft has not published a migration list. The table shows what public sources say about the clients Digiday named.
4 of 4 rows
Kroger | Announced in July 2023 that it would bring retail media ad tech in-house; Kroger Precision Marketing now runs on its own stack | |
The Home Depot | Announced Kevel's Retail Media Cloud for its in-house platform on 8 October 2024; Vantage powers its Orange Access tool. Neither release mentions PromoteIQ | |
Hudson's Bay | n/d | |
Sephora | n/d |
Kroger
- What is publicly known
Announced in July 2023 that it would bring retail media ad tech in-house; Kroger Precision Marketing now runs on its own stack
- Source
The Home Depot
- What is publicly known
Announced Kevel's Retail Media Cloud for its in-house platform on 8 October 2024; Vantage powers its Orange Access tool. Neither release mentions PromoteIQ
- Source
Hudson's Bay
- What is publicly known
n/d
- Source
Sephora
- What is publicly known
n/d
- Source
Table by AdSovereign, CC BY 4.0.
For PromoteIQ retailers that wanted Microsoft Advertising demand to continue, Criteo was the route Microsoft pointed to. Digiday's sources said customers did not have to move to Criteo: it was "more of a warm intro". Kroger's own network is profiled at Kroger Precision Marketing, and The Home Depot's at Orange Apron Media.
Strengths and limits
The questions for a former PromoteIQ retailer are about the successor, not the product.
What the Criteo route offered
- Continuity of Microsoft demand. Criteo receives Microsoft Advertising's brand demand for onsite placements.
- Network scale. Criteo had about 225 retailers when the partnership was announced (Criteo, 11 July 2024).
What it cost, and the other routes
- A new vendor relationship. Criteo's model shares the brand relationship and charges two-sided fees. Retailers that wanted ownership went in-house, as Kroger did, or chose API vendors such as Kevel.
- Concentration risk moved, not removed. Criteo itself disclosed in 2025 and 2026 that changes at two large retail clients cut its retail media revenue (Criteo profile).
- Microsoft's wider retreat. Microsoft also shut its Invest DSP on 28 February 2026, which matters for retailers that used Microsoft's buy-side tools (MediaPost). The migration options are in life after Microsoft Invest.
Alternatives
- Criteo: Microsoft's preferred onsite partner since July 2024.
- Kevel: API ad server used by The Home Depot's in-house build.
- Koddi: commerce media platform whose commercial chief led PromoteIQ's revenue team.
- Topsort: auction infrastructure for retailers starting again.
The platforms that replaced PromoteIQ in the market are compared in retail media network platforms compared, and the four best-known head to head in Kevel vs Topsort vs Criteo vs Mirakl Ads. Why platforms like PromoteIQ disappear is part of retail media consolidation.
What we could not verify
- An official Microsoft end-of-service date for PromoteIQ. None was found; the closure rests on Digiday's sources and the dead domain.
- Which PromoteIQ retailers moved to Criteo. Neither company has published names.
- What Hudson's Bay and Sephora did after PromoteIQ.
- PromoteIQ's founding year and pre-acquisition headquarters.
- Whether any PromoteIQ technology lives on inside Microsoft Advertising products.
FAQ
Is Microsoft PromoteIQ shut down?
What replaced PromoteIQ?
Did PromoteIQ customers have to move to Criteo?
Sources
- Digiday, "Microsoft looks set to shutter its retail media business" (7 October 2024). https://digiday.com/media/microsoft-looks-set-to-shutter-its-retail-media-business/
- Retail Brew, "Microsoft is reportedly exiting its retail media business" (15 October 2024). https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2024/10/15/microsoft-is-reportedly-exiting-its-retail-media-business
- Criteo, "Criteo collaborates with Microsoft Advertising to drive retail media growth" (11 July 2024). https://www.criteo.com/news/press-releases/2024/07/criteo-collaborates-with-microsoft-advertising-to-drive-retail-media-growth/
- PPC Land, "Microsoft acquires PromoteIQ" (August 2019). https://ppc.land/microsoft-acquires-promoteiq/
- PPC Land, "PromoteIQ onsite gets demand from Microsoft Advertising" (16 January 2023). https://ppc.land/promoteiq-onsite-gets-demand-from-microsoft-advertising/
- PPC Land, "Microsoft launches PromoteIQ Offsite" (16 January 2023). https://ppc.land/microsoft-launches-promoteiq-offsite/
- PPC Land, "Microsoft set to close PromoteIQ" (7 October 2024). https://ppc.land/microsoft-set-to-close-promoteiq/
- PPC Land, "Microsoft introduces first-party data solutions for retailers" (11 January 2025). https://ppc.land/microsoft-introduces-first-party-data-solutions-for-retailers/
- Kevel, "Kevel partners with The Home Depot" (8 October 2024). https://www.kevel.com/blog/kevel-home-depot-press-release
- Criteo S.A., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1576427/000157642726000014/crto-20251231.htm
More sources (1)
- MediaPost, "Microsoft to shutter DSP formerly Xandr" (publication date n/d; closure on 28 February 2026 confirmed in the editorial standard). https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/405873/microsoft-to-shutter-dsp-formerly-xandr-replace.html
Changelog
- 9 November 2026: status page published; domain check run the same day.
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